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its name (formerly Planta Genista) became the dis¬ 
tinctive appellation of the princely house of Plantagenet. 
« Time was when other haunts were thine 
Than tangled brake and breezy hill, 
When other sounds’t was thine to hear 
Than yonder tinkling rill. 
Time was when thou wert cull’d to deck 
With thy bright wreaths the brow of Power; 
When princes chose thee for their crest, 
And bore thy name, sweet flower. 
They wore thee in the battle-field 
Where crowns and realms were lost and won, 
They wore thee in the festive hall 
When war’s wild work was done. 
In tilt and tournament they wreathed 
Thy blossoms with their waving plume, 
And beauty’s eye was fain to rest 
Upon thy favoured bloom. 
